Yesterday, on King’s Day April 27, I ran my slowest half marathon race ever. I was overweight, injured and ill-prepared. Still, I had two goals in mind (finish without walking within 130 minutes), which I reached, more or less.
It was a small race, combining three distances (5, 10 km, and half marathon), though the starting location of the half marathon was separated by roughly 300 m. The starting gun was relayed via loud speaker. Clearly, this wasn’t an official race with a certified course, nor was it on the national track and field organization’s list of road races. I had registered so early on that I received a “1” on my bib, which was unfortunate, since I finished almost last. I had no intention of racing with an ankle injury. Still, being overweight made it a real challenge for me. After finishing I had to recover a few minutes from the exertion and pain.
